The question of nationhood of India
Quite often I encounter people who say that India was never a nation.. It's amusing to see their deep love of a divided Bharat. I must reply them, that their knowledge of nationhood is quite narrow. I'm sorry to say, but there can be different basis of nationhood in different regions. In Europe nationhood was derived from ethnicity or linguistic basis, in middle East basis of nationhood was religious (Islamic caliphate) and in East, South Asia onwards, the basis of nationality was civilizational. In Vishnu Purana which is not some recent text Bharat is defined as उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ie, “The country (Varsam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bharatam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata" people, despite the absence of a political unity in the administration of India, used to roam freely without having a feeling of being in some other foreign land. For a very long time ...